Real Food for Thought

Have you read the book “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollen? (You can check the trailer at http://www.foodincmovie.com/. It is a great book that highlights our habit of eating high calorie, low nutrient food “products” and identifies the benefits of eating real food, the kind that our Grandparents would actually recognize as food.

In a strange way it struck me that the buying habits of consulting services and variable staffing today resemble the habits for buying fast food. We are encouraged to think that speed and volume associated with fast food are more important than the fundamental nutrients required for the achievement of goals and initiatives.

What Pollen’s book tells us is that fast food diets are engineered by Nutritional Scientist who mix micro-nutrients and particle enzymes to create “vitamin added, nutritionally supplemented, low fat, cholesteral free, instant” food “products”. What the Nutritional Scientis misses is the fact that a manufactured, mass-produced carrot substitute will never interact with our particular DNA structure and deliver the nutritional value of a real carrot grown in a real garden (ideally organic…perhaps Grandma and Grandpa’s).

Similarly, it is up to us, as recruiting professionals, to recognize the “real food” our clients want and to serve them a home cooked meal of well balanced, nutritionally sound candidates, regardless of their overt request for the supersized, drive-through fast food.

In the end, our clients will thank us when the overall corporate body is healthier and more disease free.

Even as those buying behaviors push us towards speed and volume, the client truly wants quality, they want the “real thing”, not a consulting “product” that is theoretically identical to the real deal. As recruiters, be authentic and know your candidates well. Understand their strengths and what role(s) brings out the best in them – showcasing their their real value.

As candidates – demonstrate your value proposition clearly in your resume or profile, Use your complex set of experiences (or micro-nutrients, if you will) to your advantage so that when brought to bear on the right project, you position yourself to solve business problems and keep a company healthy. This will only add to a long, healthy consulting career! So eat well, stay healthy and serve your clients a well balanced YOU.